Innovation Partners for Aerobiology & Biomedical Research

airmid healthgroup (AHG) textile and biomedical research representatives will be attending Heimtextil in Frankfurt, Germany from 9 to 12 January 2013.

Heimtextil is the biggest international trade fair for home and contract textiles and the global benchmark for quality design textiles of innovative functionality. It is the textile industry's first major marketing and ordering date of the year and showcases the most up to date innovations and consumer trends.

This week members of the airmid team went along to the Big Ideas Showcase organised and sponsored by Enterprise Ireland. “Big Ideas” has become the key event in the Irish technology commercialisation calendar since its successful debut in 2009. The Big Ideas Showcase is the largest gathering of inventors and venture capitalists in the country. The event showcased the latest collection of twenty investment opportunities which are the culmination of years of research by some of Ireland’s finest researchers.

Eleven Technology Transfer Offices also exhibited on the day, illustrating what their Higher Education Institutes in Ireland can offer industry.

As winter draws in and the temperature drops, the quality of air in our homes can deteriorate. Heating systems are started up, open fires are lit, doors and windows are shut to seal out the cold air - all of these actions can contribute to an increase of allergens and irritants in the air of your home. Sealing our homes may be more energy efficient but unless adequate ventilation is also present this can be to the detriment of our health, especially for those with asthma and upper airway disease. Lack of ventilation may also cause increased moisture levels which together with warm room temperatures give an ideal environment for growth of mold & house dust mites. An asthma & allergy friendly™ certified Air Cleaner can work against these factors to reduce airborne allergens and irritants in your home during these winter months.

This article was prepared by Niamh McKeon. Niamh graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a BA (Mod) in Natural Science specializing in Zoology. Niamh manages the testing and certification approval processes in Allergy Standards.

Medical specialists recommend that individuals suffering from asthma and upper airway disease reduce exposure to allergens and irritants in indoor air to the greatest degree possible.

airmid healthgroup are delighted to have been shortlisted for a business award in the category Docklands Innovator of the Year 2012 for their research on indoor aerobiology and indoor air quality that was recently presented at an international medical meeting in the United States.

On Thursday, 29th November the Docklands Business Forum are celebrating the extraordinary achievements of Dockland businesses in the field of research and innovation.

The Docklands Business Awards will be held in the Gibson Hotel with a welcome reception at 6.30pm followed by dinner and the award presentations.

The 2012 Annual Meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI) concluded today having run from November 8th-13th in Anaheim, California. The meeting offered an exciting array of educational sessions for physicians and allied health professionals, as well as some fantastic social events.

airmid healthgroup (AHG) Air Filtration & Biomedical research representatives will be attending the International Filtration Conference in Philadelphia, USA during the 14th – 15th November.

November 13-15, 2012

The 2012 Annual Meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology starts today and will run from November 8-13 in Anaheim, California. The meeting will offer an exciting array of educational sessions for physicians and allied health professionals, as well as some fantastic social events.

You can download the full program guide here: http://www.acaai.org/annual_meeting/Documents/ACAAIProgramGuide2012c.pdf

Dr Bruce Mitchell from airmid healthgroup will be presenting data during Session C; Aerobiology on Sunday 11th November at 2:30 pm. The data relates to surface and airborne allergen associated with carpets.

by Dr J. McKeon

Last month airmid attended the 2012 Annual General Meeting of the European Feather and Down Association in Dublin.

The purpose of the association is to promote the interests of the European members of the bedfeather and feather-filling industry and their suppliers. In addition, it pursues the targets of making a contribution towards promoting fair business dealings and transactions, of informing its members of European quality regulations, and of encouraging the compliance with such regulations.

This blog has been written by John Fallon PhD, senior scientific officer in the microbiology laboratory of airmid healthgroup. 

In this blog, we discuss issues relating to the quality of indoor air and the impact indoor air pollution can have on human health with Health Friendly Air, a division of airmid healthgroup. Given that the majority of a person's time is spent indoors, a good standard of indoor air quality is an essential facet in the prevention of infection and disease. Herein, John Fallon PhD touches on topics ranging from potential indoor air contaminants, the diseases they may cause, and methods to ensure a high standard of indoor air quality.    

For this blog entry, we discuss the occurrence of "Popcorn workers lung" attributed to diacetyl inhalation, following the recent legal proceedings of a Bronchiolitis obliterans (BO) sufferer who contracted the respiratory disease following exposure to diacetyl from Popcorn. BO is an obstructive respiratory disease, whereby the bronchioles are obstructed by tissue damage and aberrant epithelial repair. The result is a narrowing of the bronchioles, restricting normal respiratory function. This should be of concern to managers and safety officals of manufacturing plants producing diacetyl and whos employees or consumer base may be at risk from exposure. 

This post has been written by Peter Desmond, a scientific contributor at airmid healthgroup. Peter is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin with a B.A (mod) in Microbiology.